Sports Digest

BOXING/Lee awaits new foe:Unbeaten Irish middleweight Andy Lee is on standby ahead of his appearance at Madison Square Garden on March 16th.

Limerick southpaw Lee had been due to meet Cleiton Conceican on the "Erin go Brawl" promotion, but the Brazilian has pulled out of the fight after he was well beaten by Esau Herrara last weekend.

New Yorker Levan Easley was being lined out as a replacement but according to Detroit based Lee, his manager Emanuel Steward is not interested.

Khan faces Bull in ring

Amir Khan will face Doncaster lightweight Steffy Bull in his 12th professional fight next month.

The 20-year-old will take on the Yorkshireman - 10 years his senior - at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on April 7th, serving as support to Joe Calzaghe's super-middleweight clash with Peter Manfredo.

Bull, 30, a part-time assistant teaching children with special needs, retired recently after his last fight in October after a fight with unbeaten local prospect John Fewkes fell through.

CRICKET/Irish run South Africa close in warm-up game

Ireland captain Trent Johnston believes his side have given their confidence a huge boost after coming close to one of the biggest upsets in international cricket on Monday.

Playing the one-day game's number one ranked nation, South Africa, in a World Cup warm-up match in St Augustine, Ireland looked set for an astonishing victory until a late collapse consigned them to a 35-run defeat at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground.

But Johnston feels he and his team-mates can take many pluses from their performance when they meet Zimbabwe in their opening game of the tournament.

"My major goal for my team at this World Cup is to be competitive and we have shown that we are in this first match."

He added: "The bowlers did very well in particular. The pitch was a new-ball pitch and we made good use of it. This was really great after the struggles we had in Kenya recently."

South Africa recovered from 91 for eight to post 192 before dismissing the tournament debutants for 157, who had themselves been 139 for four.